sixel-tmux VS CuteXterm

It's not really that strange that tmux doesn't support sixels. It's quite a bit more complicated and resource-intensive than ANSI Escape Codes or ncurses.

It might be fine for local[1] multiplexing but over the network it is not as fast as even something like VNC or RDP.

[1] https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux/

After having spent too much time trying to get the simple https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux/ features into mainline tmux (last November https://github.com/tmux/tmux/issues/3753), maybe it'd be easier to jump ship as use zellij?

Could anyone offer recommendations on "riced" zellij configuations, or just a demo where it shows doing with (say charts of disk usage per folder), watching a movie with mpv + keeping a vim to type on?

Your approach looks very sound!

A fork of terminfo may be needed if the description of modern terminal capabilities can't be added -- or if old and deprecated attributes repurposed for that job (like in your padding example): if you're automating the correction/creation of terminfos in ~/, IMHO, it may be better to piggyback on tic as much as possible.

Anyway, to backport modern terminal descriptions to legacy programs, creating correct binary terminfos in ~/.terminfo seems the best practice. You can also invent new TERM. When I wanted to have italics etc about everywhere, personally that's just what I did for sixel-tmux: https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux/?tab=readme-ov-file#ste... : just declare a new $TERM you know to be right, and use that in the apps that let you use a little logic in their configuration file

I do that in my .vimrc:

   " If Vim doesn't know the escape codes to switch to italic

You can have that functionality integrated within tmux with https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux/ : if you terminal doesn't support sixels, you'll at least see something close to the picture they represent.

Then of course it's not pixel-perfect unless you make your terminal very large (like 800x240 instead of 80x24) but something being better than nothing, I'd argue it's for the better if all you can do is 80x24 with no pictures otherwise.

sixel-tmux can help you have both: https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux/

See also rant[1] of sixel-tmux author.

> It's 2021, and we should be able to do litterate programming in the console, with full graphical support.

Yeah. We are stuck cosplaying computers from the sixties.

What's even funnier, even if you find a modern terminal emulator that supports features like ligatures, graphics, emoji etc. you still will be blocked by tmux. Sure - not everyone needs tmux. If you never work on remote machines, you can live without it.

But I work on remote machines all the time. I also use Kakoune text editor that defers window management to external tools (WM or tmux, but to be honest, tmux is much better). Zellij is more of r/unixporn bait than usable tool for now. So I'm stuck with text only interface.

[1]: https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux/blob/main/RANTS.md

> Some terminal emulators have support for images, which fit most of the use cases here but not the one I described.

That what sixel-tmux is for, when you're in a hurry and needs images with your current terminal emulator: https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux

Maybe tmux-sixel does that tmux sixel

If you want some crazy shit like sixels or italics and ligatures, try msys2 that's what I've used for the screenshot. The only thing comparable on Linux in term of features is xterm and, that's another story.

> Yeah... xterm with a few tweaks (and some pruning) would still be best for me.

Check https://github.com/csdvrx/CuteXterm for my bag of tricks :)

xterm offers the best emulation, period. The developer is reactive and maintain high quality standards. The only real issues for me are the lack of configurable shortcuts, and ligatures. wezterm is a good option if you need these, and don't depend on xterm perfect emulation.

> Most emulate an xterm, which didn't have support for graphics

Start your xterm with the right flags and it will.

If you want a premade configuration, see https://github.com/csdvrx/CuteXterm

See my rant on https://github.com/csdvrx/cuteXterm

> Surely you need AHK because Windows is less configurable

No, because it lets me do remap like having Caps be both Control and Esc - and I do the same with Enter being both Control when used with another key, and Enter alone. My Alt keys are Alt keys when used with another key, or Home/End when used alone.

> How are you using terminals in Windows? Like you want to SSH from a fresh install, what do I do?

Install openssh from the windows settings (check https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administrati...)

I'd recommend the latest Windows terminal from the Microsoft store, or mintty from msys2, but that's just for comfort :)

> I find Linux superior here, but interested to learn why you're the opposite; maybe I'm doing it wrong

I like sixels, so I prefer mintty, but even without sixels, I find the Windows experience better: I want cute fonts with ligatures in my terminal. I want proper support of bold, underline, italic. I want multiple tabs. I want to map key actions to everything - like, I want my terminal to change its color profile and font with just 1 key.

That's very hard on Linux. That's easy on Windows.

https://github.com/csdvrx/cuteXterm#why-did-you-make-cutexte...

If I was feeling playful, I'd point you to https://github.com/csdvrx/cuteXterm and grab some popcorn while you turn red and pretend it doesn't matter and we could have a fun debate.

Apologies for misgendering you. My opinion that you come off like a windows fangirl was mostly due to the other rant you linked in the sixel-tmux rant: https://github.com/csdvrx/cutexterm#wait-i-thought-people-sa...

Here you mention some other things unrelated to terminals, and I was mostly addressing those. It seems to me you want a specific type of experience on Linux, but you can't get that, so therefore dismiss the merits of Linux. I think a lot of your impressions on Linux come from using an X11 based setup instead of Wayland. Completely different beasts, and I think a lot of your grievances would be solved by the latter.

For me, I cannot go back to Windows, ethical reasons aside: Sway on Wayland is perfect for me, and it's what I want out of my computing experience.

I actually agree with a lot that is written in those rants, particularly the VTE and gnome terminal situation. It's just your comments on windows vs linux came across as very personal imo, so I suppose I have retorted here with also a somewhat personal rant.

Also, I don't think either platform has many good terminal choices. Besides mintty, I don't think there are that many good (platform exclusive) terminal emulators on Windows. And on Linux, Foot is one of the few that meets my criteria, including top tier Sixel support (though Wezterm meets my criteria too if it wasn't so slow, hopefully it gets faster). But, for example, I could never really like mintty if I was forced to use Windows, because it lacks features I want.

What I'm trying to say: different needs, different use cases, different tastes. Sorry that my original rant came off so negatively to you and that I wasn't able to convey this point I was trying to make.